The day the new IPF opened.

This post of yours I largely agree with. Indeed it has slow shifts, like plate tectonics. Indeed the next coach "could" elevate it more. Of course, he could also lower it, or, you could have a cycle of new coaches every year or two. I have no problem with optimism, since I'm an optimist as well. The key, though, is to be at least aware that the optimistic result we hope for is not guaranteed.


Meanwhile, this post of yours I disagree with entirely. The staff at Ohio is certainly not as good as the staff that Solich had at Nebraska, but then the budget he has to work with is a lot smaller. Despite the small budget, he does have some very good assistants. Nearly every assistant that he has ever hired, either at Ohio or before, has gone on do do very well.

If you want to knock them for how long it has taken for recruiting to improve, I won't argue with you, but it is certainly true that they have consistently produced better results on the field than you would expect from their recruiting rankings. They even achieved, for a week, a Top 25 ranking, and did it with recruiting classes ranked between 90-120. While that's the exception, on average they have ranked about 20 places higher on the field than their recruiting rankings would predict.

As other have pointed out, Nebraska has never really recovered and gotten back to where they were in 2003. Even though he did well at Nebraska, except for 2002, I'd say that Solich is a better coach today than he was in his prior job. In any case, his contribution to Ohio goes much deeper than what has been done on the field. You remarked yourself on the Tectonic shifts, but certainly he has done a lot to improve facilities, and culture, putting in place things that will benefit coaches of the future.

Finally, I had disbelief to hear you credit his success at Ohio to the fact that Ohio is a "conference heavy weight". If they are a "heavy weight" today, it is because he has made them one, rather than his having success because he came to a school that was already a "heavy weight". If Ohio was a "heavy weight" before he arrived, why have all the other coaches since 1946 not benefited from that "heavy weight" status to the same extent, and why doesn't Ohio have a long term winning tradition?

Edit -

Oh, so they became a heavy weight a year ago? I can agree that Ohio is becoming a conference heavy weight, and certainly the IPF has helped, and the Academic Center will help just as much.

A winning record against ranked teams.

I understood him to be saying that, now that the IPF is open, Solich has made Ohio into a conference heavyweight. Therefore, I infer that, since this Fall will be the first season when they were able to use it the over the winter before, he will begin to hold Solich to a higher standard this fall. I also infer that he will be raising his expectations over the next several years, as the post-IPF recruiting classes begin to play a major role.

This in from Twitter

Scott Isphording ‏@CoachIzzy1 24m24 minutes ago

Academics first. Bobcat Football just had best semester in school history. Highest term & Accum GPA ever. #GoBobcats

Honestly this makes me happier than if there had been a MACC.

Mark, I don't think you have to worry about that!

He can define "A" list any way he wants. By his definition Solich is "B" list coach, which isn't too bad. Others in the "B" list category would include Mark Richt, Paul Johnson, Bill Snyder, Bobby Petrino, Mark Dantonio, Brian Kelly, Urban Meyers, and Gary Patterson. That's not bad company.

Post of the Year!!!

With Ohio I see a program that grades out in the upper 10% at the G5/MAC level in every category. The ceiling has been raised by schools like Boise State and Wichita State who had seasons as legit national title contenders and consistent Top 20. Their performances are on the high end of what Ohio can do but where it makes a difference is the caliber of athlete that would consider Ohio these days. The facilities are or quickly becoming good enough to attract higher caliber players from far away or get players looking at power schools in our own region to stay home. Miami our top recruiting competitor in both major sports has disappeared from an athletic perspective. UC has them pinned down in football and they've pinned their own basketball program down by investing in D1 Hockey. That school has fundamentally changed athletically in a negative way in the two major sports.

Don't get me wrong they are making some improvements over in Oxford but they have big hurdles in place. We talk about how Athens is a remote that school is 45 minutes removed from a 4 lane highway and that in their case is never going to change. They've had a record of 38-84 over the past decade. Yes their recruiting is up some but its all relative to the rise in recruiting by the MAC the last 3 years. Again L.C. you put too much stock into recruiting rankings and senior starter counts when a lot of the problems these MAC schools face is a lack of football culture. Like that comeback win against Miami last year, does it happen in front of a packed crowd in Oxford? My guess is probably not.

Solich did "much of nothing at Nebraska." Really, did coach Solich kill your dog or something? He was dismissed in 2003 while 9-3, 58-19, Solich's 58 wins during his first six seasons as Nebraska's head coach exceeded those of his predecessors, Bob Devaney (53 wins) and Osborne (55 wins), both of whom are in the College Football Hall of Fame,Conf Champ in 1999, Big12 COY 1999 & 2001. Three top ten finishes (#2 in 99), coached Eric Crouch to a Heisman Trophy in 2001, there were also the 123 First Team Academic All-Conference and seven First Team Academic All-American Selections during his time.

Seriously Wes, Nebraska fans would dearly love to have those good old days again. He was dismissed after six seasons that were better than the first six seasons of the two college football hall of fame coaches that preceded him and you just can not give him any respect. Really?

He inherited a Nebraska program from Tom Osborn that was at the top of the world and dipped under his leadership. That would be like Saban moving on and Alabama promoted one his assistants to HC who followed with a bunch of 9-3 and 8-4 seasons. Would Alabama fans be happy about that?

An A is given out when you take a program up a whole notch from where it was before. Nick Saban-Alabama (grade A). Led a historic program not only back to glory but to unprecedented achievement. Bill Snyder-Kansas State (grade A) Build a Top 15 power from one of the most hapless program at the top level. One rule about giving out the grades is there is no way to get an A without at least earning a conference championship. It did take Snyder 15 seasons to win a Big XII championship so I guess it would be fair to Frank to give him an A if he wins a MAC championship before he retires. Giving Frank an A without a MAC title is like giving a student A on a paper when he can't complete any sentences.